


Singleness of Heart

by songofsunset



Series: Singleness of Heart [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence, Gen, Transcendence AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-07 10:12:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3171053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songofsunset/pseuds/songofsunset
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a conflict will Bill Cipher, Dipper goes missing. When Dipper comes back, he is... changed.</p><p>Mark and Anna Pines only want what is best for their children. So how are they supposed to figure out what that is?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fic for the lovely [Transcendence AU](http://transcendence-au.tumblr.com/summary), also being posted on tumblr :)
> 
> (Oh, and don’t worry too much about that intro bible quote- this isn’t going to be a fic about children learning to obey their parents, quite the opposite, really. I was just looking up quotes for the title, and it was so relevant I couldn’t help but throw it in.)

 

_Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest_ live long on the earth _. And fathers- provoke not your children to w͞r̢at͜h̢, but nurture them…for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world._

- **Paraphrased from Ephesians 6:2-4,12, in the King James Bible.**

 

———

Dipper is fighting.

There is a roaring, and a hissing, and Bill Cipher is laughing, and Dipper is fighting. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. It wasn’t supposed to end like this, but Bill is cackling, and taunting, and Dipper gathers everything he has and sort of _shoves_ , and Bill’s eye widens like he can’t understand what’s happening, and then he _screams and screams_ like the world is ending, and maybe it is, and Dipper is on fire his mind is on fire and-

And it’s over.

Bill is gone, and Dipper is alone in his head.

…

The aftermath is silence.

———

When Mark and Anna Pines got married, they were overjoyed, glad to be starting a family, glad to be getting to spend the rest of their life with their favorite person in the world.

When, a few months later, Anna sat Mark down at told him she was pregnant, he actually cried.

“I’m gonna knit that kid so many sweaters”, he sobs into his wife’s shoulder. “They’re gonna be so loved they won’t even know what hit them”.

Anna smiles, and pulls him closer. “You’ll be the best dad ever, Markelangelo,” she says. “We’ve totally got this”.

When, a few weeks later, she tells him that they’re having twins, Mark actually drops his knitting needles from the shock, severely jeopardizing a partially knitted rabbit patterned onesie in the process. Once they’ve made sure the knitting is okay, Anna laughs at him for a good fifteen minutes. Mark doesn’t care one bit, and cheerfully makes plans to make a matching one.

———

No one in Gravity Falls even realizes that something is wrong, not for several hours after the fact.

Sure, there had been a sound as though reality were shifting on it’s axis, and yeah, the ground shook as though in the midst of a world altering cataclysm, but that was basically a normal Thursday afternoon in Gravity Falls. It wasn’t until deliveries to several local restaurants failed to show up that people started worrying.

…

“Corporate? This is the Gravity falls branch. The next delivery was scheduled for 2:30 pm and-“

“HOW CAN YOU CARE ABOUT DELIVERIES WHEN THERE’S GNOMES AND FAIRIES AND FLOATING EYEBALLS EVERYWHERE???”

“…..Uh, it’s never bothered me particularly much? That’d be a problem on our end, though,  and I just want to confirm that the delivery truck left as scheduled-“

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU- oh. Oh god, I think Jeanette is getting eaten by a unicorn. I gotta go”

“Wait, but what about the-“

The line goes dead.

…

Residents start getting texts from out of town numbers- relatives, friends, people they’ve met at parties or from school, frantically sending pictures of spirits and pixies and fire-lizards to everyone in their contact lists.

Even then, only a few people in Gravity Falls start to catch on.

Wendy’s cousin Henry sends her a picture of a Brownie- like, the type with anger management issues and sharp teeth- and she texts back without thinking. “Cool pic dude- dont forget to put the milk to keep it from getting mad n stuff”.

Distracted by trying to figure out where Dipper and Mabel are, why her boss is sitting silently in a chair with his face in his hands, and why Soos is covered in mud and candle wax, it takes her a moment to realize what has just happened. Then she goes completely still for a moment and double checks the sender and, yeah, that particular cousin lives in like, Portland or Seattle or something. As in, not Gravity Falls, and not currently visiting town, and _why is he sending her a picture of a Brownie?_

Wendy shakes Stan by the shoulder.

“Dude,” she says. “Dude, we have a problem.”

———

When the twins are finally born, Mark doesn’t know what to do with himself. He somehow manages to make it home from the hospital without fainting or dropping his newborn children, and, oh god, what if he drops his newborn children, what if something happens and what if-

“Calm down, dear,” his wife says, kissing him on the nose and taking the child out of his arms, careful to support the child’s neck in her palm. “Sit down before you sprain something, you’re freaking out.”

Mark all but collapses into the nearest chair, looking up at his incredible wife, and his two incredible children.

“Have I mentioned that I love you recently?”

“Only a million times since breakfast,” she laughs. “Take a break, Marker Face, I got this.”

Mark rallies himself shortly thereafter, and cooks his wife a delicious dinner.

———

Someone thinks to turn on the news, and slowly they began to figure it out. The world has changed, and no one outside Gravity Falls knows how to deal with it. (Or at least the people who don’t know how to deal with it are being a lot more vocal than the people who do.)

Dipper is missing, and Mabel, having recently staggered back to the shack covered in scrapes and bruises, is in a state of barely controlled hysteria.

It’s not as bad as it could have been, not at all. Mabel is okay. The town is okay. Bill was stopped, and the world is still here, and people will adjust to the magic and the creatures, and- and-

Mabel bursts into tears, barely even noticing Stan’s awkward attempts to comfort her.

Dipper is gone, and probably not coming back. She’s alone, twinless, an only child. And it’s her fault for letting him go after Bill. She should have stopped him. She could have stopped him.

Mabel doesn’t sleep that night, or much at all for the next few days. She doesn’t know how to call her parents and explain, so she just doesn’t, ignoring their frantic calls and letting Stan be the one to reassure them that, “Yeah, crazy about these monsters, right? D’jya hear about that Basilisk in New York the other day? Hahaha, classic. But yeah Mabel is definitely still alive and fine and perfectly safe and oh, I think I have a pressing need to be somewhere else that isn’t on the phone answering your questions about Dipper gottagobye’.

Mabel wanders the woods looking for Dipper, and Wendy worriedly trails behind her.

(The Mystery Shack Gift Store is closed and Wendy has no other obligations, and if that isn’t a frightening sign about Stan’s state of mind, Wendy doesn’t know what is. She hopes that it’s merely his subtle way encouraging her to keep an eye on Mabel, and while that might be true, that being all it is isn’t very likely.)

Ironically, due to all the supernatural activity in all the other parts of the world, Gravity Falls is probably the safest it’s ever been- the dangerous creatures are elsewhere, excited by the prospect of fresh victims and people who don’t know how to subdue them, and the tame creatures are lying low, waiting for the hubbub to die down so they can get on with their lives. 

Mabel and Wendy don’t run into much in the woods. They definitely don’t find Dipper.

After the third day of walking in circles, Wendy sits Mabel down for a talk. “Maybe we should stop,“ Wendy suggests. “I don’t think-“

And Mabel’s head flies up, and she fixes Wendy with a ferocious glare.

“Maybe YOU should stop looking”, she snaps, “But I’M going to find my brother.”

“Kiddo, no, I wasn’t trying to-“

“I’m NOT gonna give up! I’m gonna find him! I’m gonna find him and I’m gonna kill him and then I’m gonna hug him so hard that he won’t know what hit him and then- and then-“

Mabel is crying, and so is Wendy. Wendy kneels down and hugs Mabel with all the strength she has.

“It’s gonna be okay, kiddo”, she says. “It’s gonna be okay.”

———

Mabel got lost while playing hide-and-seek, once.

She’d been at the park and the big kids had finally agreed to play a game with her. “Hide and Seek,” they said. “You hide, and don’t come out ‘til we say so.”

Mabel had found the best hiding spot ever- an indent in the ground underneath the largest plastic slide. They were never gonna find her here, she giggled to herself, never ever, and then they were gonna have to admit that she was old enough to play with them- that’d serve them right!

And so, even though the people thundering down the slide above her were loud and scary, and even though she couldn’t hear any of the big kids looking for her at all, she stayed curled in her little indent and didn’t move, even when the sand got all in her face and in the sweater her dad had knitted for her. Mabel was hungry, and thirsty, and maybe a little tiny bit scared, but she wasn’t gonna come out, not until she was sure that she’d won the game and proved herself.

She waited and waited and waited. She could hear other parents calling their kids to come home, but the big kids still hadn’t found her yet. It was getting colder, now, and the light was turning orange like it did at the end of the day, and it felt like she’d been here for _forever_ and they’d probably found everyone else by now, right? She’d probably won?

But no, she couldn’t risk it, she had to prove that she could play this better than all of them. Just cuz she was little was no reason for her to- no reason for her to feel like throwing up or crying. They were gonna find her soon, it was gonna be fine, it was gonna be fine.

She’d just hidden too well. That was all.

Mabel curled into her sweater a little tighter.

The people going down the slide above her grew less and less frequent. The sun had mostly set, and everything was scaling into purples and blues and grays.

Then, in the distance, she heard her father calling for her.

“Mabel? Mabel-sweetheart, where are you? Mabel Pines, are you okay? _Mabel, Mabel, where are you?_ ”

Without hesitation, Mabel wriggled out from her hiding spot and sprinted to her dad as fast as she could, not even caring that she was crying, or that she was covered by sand, or that she was gonna lose the game. Her dad swung her up into his arms, and she clung to his neck like it was the only remaining thing in the whole world.

“Mabel, sweetie, I’m so glad you’re safe. I got you, you’re gonna be okay. Don’t worry, I’m gonna take care of you forever and ever and ever, okay? You don’t have to be scared any more. You’re gonna be okay.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper comes back. Dental hygiene is important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three soooon!

At first, Mabel thinks she is dreaming.

Why else would her missing brother, the brother she’d been scouring the forest looking for for the past five days, just walk into the kitchen in the middle of the night while she was making pancakes

So of course it has to be a dream.

She smiles and exclaims, “Ooh, I wonder if this is one of those dreams where I can fly!” Then she puts down her spatula in a burst of inspiration. “Maybe I can summon glitter glue with my mind!” She screws up her face and concentrates.

“Mabel, what are you-“ Dipper begins, but Mabel reaches out and puts a single finger over his mouth.

“Shoosh, brotherly figment of my imagination, I’m trying to create a machine that will let me communicate with trees.”

Dipper bats her hand away. “I’m not a figment of your imagination, Mabel! Why would I be a figment of your imagination?” A thought occurs to Dipper, and he goes pale. “Did- did we not actually defeat Bill? I though we- I mean, I could have sworn…”

Mabel freezes.

If this is a dream over which she has any amount of control, no one would be mentioning Bill Cipher. He shows up enough in her nightmares, and he’d killed her brother. ( _No, no, you did,_ a thought whispers in the back of her head, but she ignores it, because… maybe, just maybe…) She wants nothing to do with Bill, not even in off-handed subconscious references.

Which means… this Dipper isn’t just a figment of her imagination.

This is real, she is awake, and her brother is standing right in front of her.

Mabel stares at Dipper, and then the pancakes are forgotten on the stove as Mabel screams and hugs Dipper tight. Dipper pats her on the back awkwardly, like he doesn’t know quite what to do with this reaction, but she refuses to let go.

“Uh, hey Mabel, I love you too?”

Mabel is sobbing into his shoulder. “Dipper, Dipper you’re okay you’re alive, you’re back, what happened, are you hurt-“

“I’m… fine?” Dipper says. “Seriously Mabel, I just took a couple hours to wake up and walk back, it’s not that big a deal, really.“

Mabel scowls, and punches him in the arm, making Dipper cringe. Then she hugs him even tighter.

“You were gone for 5 whole days, buttface! I thought you were dead!”

Dipper’s eyes widen, and he- sort of flickers for a second, and starts to open his mouth, only-

“Mabel?” Grunkle Stan calls from the doorway. “What’s wrong? Is it a robber? Can I punch him? Uh- why are you mime-hugging the air in the middle of the night?”

Mabel lets go of Dipper and turns to glare at Stan with fists on her hips. “Grunkle Stan, that’s not funny, your eyesight isn’t that bad, not even at night.”

He frowns. “No, seriously, what were you doing kid, that’s kind of weird.”

“Is- is this not real?” asks Dipper. “Because I thought you were kidding about being dreaming but-“

“Okay, no, hold up,” Mabel says, and moves a hand so that it’s hidden from Stan’s view by Dipper. “Grunkle Stan, this is very important. _How many fingers am I holding up_?”

“You are literally just wiggling them all back and forth. What’s the deal?”

Dipper flinches, and Mabel’s fingers stop wiggling. She sticks her hand right onto Dipper’s face like they’re playing awkward starfish, simultaneously distracting him from whatever he’s thinking and reassuring herself that he’s still actually there. He is, he definitely is, that indignant spluttering could come from no one else.

Mabel moves her hand up and down across Dipper’s face, and he splutters some more, telling her to get off already. She ignores him, focusing on Grunkle Stan. “You’re sure you don’t see anything, I dunno, really _Dipper-y_ about this general area? Not at all?”

Grunkle Stan’s face goes weirdly concerned. He looks at her for a moment, then takes a breath.

“Mabel, sweetie, I understand, I really do, but I pretending that Dipper is back isn’t a good idea. It might be a good time to admit that he may not be coming back at all. Goodness knows that denial really didn’t end well when I did it, and I really don’t recommend secret rituals or magic circles, and-” He trails off, realizing that Mabel is the most serious he’s ever seen her.

“Dipper is right here,” she says.

Dipper is also hyperventilating. She slings an arm around him and tugs him close.

Smoke from the abandoned and now burning pancakes fills the room, and Grunkle Stan walks over to the stove and turns off the heat. He scrapes the burnt pancakes into the trash, then puts the pan back onto the stove, reaches for the bowl with batter in it. He pours some more onto the frying pan.

“Okay,” he says finally, fiddling with the temperature knob. “Let’s talk. Does Dipper remember what we did last weekend when you were out with Candy and Grenda?”

Mabel stares at him. “I-“

Dipper is shaking, but he looks up with a sudden hope.

“We- we ate all Mabel’s candy and blamed it on Waddles!”

Mabel gasps in indignation and looks up at Grunkle Stan. “You two did _what_ with my candy?”

Grunkle Stan’s eyes widen for a moment, and then he sags a bit in relief turning away to check the pancakes.

“You can’t prove anything,” he says with a chuckle. “You’ll never find any evidence”.

———

By the time the twins are three, Mark and Anna Pines barely know what to do with themselves.

“I knew,” Anna says, grunting as she wedges an over-full drawer of scented markers closed and rifles through a bin of toy vehicles “that having twins was gonna be a lot of work. But I didn’t think it would be _this much_ work!”

Mark is too busy trying to get his enthusiastic daughter to stop trying to use his necktie as a swingset and to start putting on her pajamas already to respond. Mabel just laughs, grinning widely, and Dipper, already in his star-patterned pajamas and clutching a picture-book to his chest, watches with his bottom lip trembling like he’s about to cry.

Anna sighs.

“Dipper, sweetheart, do you think you could go into the other room and wait for your bedtime story on the couch? I’ll be out in a minute with Lambykins, I promise.”

Dipper sniffles, but shuffles into the other room. Mark grabs Mabel around the middle and swings her into the air, startling her into thrilled peals of laughter. They spin in a circle, and then Mark is bouncing her down onto the bed and glancing sheepishly up at his wife- she’s told him a million times not to rile up the children before bedtime, but she just smiles wryly and shakes her head.

There’s only so much you can do, really, and it _is_ pretty adorable.

Anna keeps looking while Mark gets Mabel changed, and- there it is, behind Mabel’s batmobile and a pile of toy horses, a floppy plush sheep. Anna snatches it up triumphantly, and Mabel, finally changed into pajamas, claps for her.

Anna bends down and deposits the animal into Mabel’s arms. “Can you take that to your brother, sweetheart? Daddy and I will be out in a moment.”

Grinning, Mabel and runs into the other room with the lamb, and Anna embraces her husband while she can.

There is a moment of silence, and then- a loud crashing as something breaks, and Mabel and Dipper are both wailing at the top of their lungs.

Anna Pines, mother to two of the most beautiful and unmanageable twins she has ever known puts her face on her husband’s shoulder. “Remind me why we’re doing this again?” she asks, and even slightly muffled, her weariness is audible.

He takes a moment to rub gentle circles into her back.

“Because you love them?”

“Yeah,” she sighs, steeling herself. “Because I love them.

The wailing in the other room intensifies, and Anna groans into her husbands shoulder and moves to intervene.

———

They assume that he’s a ghost.

Things went wrong when Dipper confronted Bill, and now Dipper is invisible and intangible to everyone but Mabel (and, duh, twins get special exceptions for these things) and his body is nowhere to be found and he kind of has this tendency to just- hover everywhere without realizing it, and it’s the only explanation, really. What else could it possibly be?

Dipper and Wendy and Soos smile to hear Mabel back to her usual cheerful self, even if her conversations sound a bit more one-sided these days.

“Ooh, Dipper, try sticking your head through the wall!” … “Because it’d be hilarious that’s why!” … “Okay but what if I pushed you?” … “Oh, don’t be a grumpy face about it, you gotta get used to your ghost powers somehow! Maybe I should make you a costume or something! Like that hunk Danny Phan-Dipper, no, come back!”

They decide to wait a little bit to tell their parents, in order to give Dipper and everyone else a little time to get a hang of things.

After all, there really isn’t a good way to say “Your son is dead but also he’s a ghost and standing right there we swear.”

Dipper mostly tries not to think about it.

———

The first time Mabel gets really sick, Dipper catches it within a day (and really, what else did they expect.)

Mark is beside himself with worry, wringing his hands and talking about cancelling his conference trip, but the doctor says it’s just a stomach bug-nothing to be concerned about- and in the end Anna is the one who spends two days at home rubbing her children’s backs and feeding them warm soup and putting cool cloths on their foreheads.

“I don’t feel so good,” Mabel mutters around the thermometer.

“It’s all right, sweetie. You’ll feel better soon,” Anna says. “Your dad will call later and tell you all about his trip to hang out with the other dentists. Won’t that be fun?” Mabel nods weakly, and Dipper cuddles in closer to her side.

Her children are miserable, and Anna will be overjoyed when they get better, (the lack of vomit alone will be a welcome change) but a part of her is glad to get to have this time with them before they grow up and go off to change the world. She should spend more time with them, probably, but she’s just been so busy at work recently, and time has slipped her by…

If she isn’t careful, they’ll grow up before she even notices.

Mabel makes a gagging sound, and Anna lunges for the designated bowl.

Miraculously, most of the throw-up gets into the throw-up bowl. It’s better than the last time, at least. Anna shakes her head and reaches for the paper-towels.

Maybe there is something to be said for her babies growing up after all.

———

Their first clue that something is wrong are Dipper’s teeth.

Dipper hasn’t been eating- he doesn’t need to, and he says that while he kinda misses food, he hasn’t actually gotten hungry yet. (Not for food, anyway, but he can’t figure out what else he would be hungry for, and stays quiet.) Despite this, Mabel still insists that he tries to brush and floss his teeth.

It comes of being the child of a dentist- dental hygiene is instilled in you from birth.

So, at Mabel’s urging, Dipper and Mabel are standing in the bathroom, trying to figure out how to keep Dipper’s teeth clean, even though Dipper can’t physically hold a toothbrush or floss or toothpaste.

“C’mon Dipper,” Mabel says, “what’ll dad say if he comes back and finds half your teeth rotting out!”

“I think first he’ll be like ‘why is my son literally an incorporeal ghost’, and then he’ll be like ‘ghosts don’t get cavities’, and then he’ll be like ‘Hey there Mabel why did you eat so much candy- your teeth have literally rotted away like in that one video I showed you when you were way too little for it’.”

“I’m not gonna get cavities Dipper, gosh!”

Dipper looks at her strangely for a second and tilts his head. “N҉o,” he says, “N̶o̕,͘ y̷ou r͢eall̡ý wo̷n͠’̷t.”

Mabel shivers. For a moment there, his eyes looked almost black. Some  trick of the light, probably.

“Dipper? Are you-”

Dipper blinks, and Mabel isn’t quite sure what she was so concerned about. She levels Dipper with a stare. “Are you gonna be cleaning your teeth or not?”

“Ughhh, fine!” he says. “I’ll use my fingers, but I hope you appreciate how gross this is.”

Mabel nods in satisfaction, and Dipper sticks a finger in his mouth

“Oh, hey,” he says, scraping his finger around,”It turns out I’m right and ghosts don’t get- ow!” He yanks the finger out of his mouth. It’s bleeding, and the color of the blood seems just slightly… off. 

As he and Mabel watch, the cut seals up. Dipper bares his teeth at the mirror and tries to find a good angle to see them.

“Um.” Dipper says, tilting his head back and forth, “Were my teeth always this sharp?”

Mabel isn’t sure, but suddenly bugging Dipper to brush his teeth doesn’t seem like quite as much fun.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Video games, weirdness, and sweaters.

Keeping the children from fighting is something of a hassle.

Sometimes, everything seems to go perfectly. The children are happy and helpful, playing together nicely and doing what they’re told.

And then Mabel will hug Dipper when he doesn’t want to be hugged, or Dipper will grab one of Mabel’s toys that she was already using, or some invisible thing will tip the balance of power between the two siblings and fighting will ensue, vicious fighting that ends with tears and bruises and both kids sulking in corners. Anna never quite knows when it will start, but she and Mark do their best to end it quickly.

And then, only a few hours later, Dipper and Mabel will be cuddled up next to each other, sharing cookies and laughing, all grudges forgotten. 

Mark says that it’s just how kids are. Anna can’t even pretend to understand it at all.

———

Mabel and Dipper visit Soos’s Grandma’s house.

They aren’t actually there to visit Abuelita Ramirez, though Mabel with definitely take the opportunity to devour her empanadas and exchange knitting patterns. Mostly they’re there to hang out with Soos a little bit more before their parents come to take them home, something that is likely to happen all too soon.

It felt a little bit like they were waiting for a court to sentence them for their crimes, actually. In retrospect, they probably should have given their parents a bit more warning about the whole ghost thing, but having waited this long, they might as well tell their parents in person. That’s what Dipper keeps telling himself, anyways.

They spend the afternoon hanging out and playing video games.

“You okay with this Dipper?” Mabel asks, “I mean, tangibility and stuff, you can’t exactly touch the controller and I don’t want you to feel left out.”

“Yeah dude,” Soos says, looking at a spot slightly to Dipper’s left, “Last time I played a lot of video games one of them came to life and tried to murder us, so like, I’m flexible and stuff. We should do whatever makes you most comfortable. “

Dipper is touched. Soos can’t even see him anymore. Soos has to take it on faith from Mabel that Dipper is even there and listening, and yet Soos is one of the only people to still talk to him directly. Even Wendy and Grunkle Stan mostly talk to him through Mabel.

“Mabel, please fistbump Soos for me and tell him he’s awesome.”

Mabel complies, and Soos fistbumps Mabel and grins, but also sticks out a fist in Dipper’s direction, waiting enough time for him to do the same. Dipper does, even though he and Soos both can’t feel it, and things feel a little bit more okay. 

Has Dipper told Soos he loves him recently? Ever? The opportunity to tell him that in-person is long gone, but maybe he can get Mabel to pass on the message for him- she’d probably be thrilled.

Dipper briefly imagines the enormous glitter and confetti filled party Mabel might come up with, and decides that involving Mabel may not be worth it.

Instead, Dipper says, “I’m fine. Not being able to hold the controller sucks, but this situation isn’t exactly gonna change anytime soon, so I should be getting on with my life. Death, afterlife, whatever. Point being, I’m really looking forward to seeing Mabel get her butt kicked at Mario Cart!”

“Hey!” Mabel says, “I am totally not gonna get my butt kicked!” She shoves up the sleeves of her sweater (currently decorated with a cute Halloween-style ghost) and marches towards the television. “Soos, get your controller, Dipper says he’s fine with it, and I’ve gotta defend my honor.”

…

“BLUE SHELL HIM MABEL, BLUE SHELL!”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK I’M TRYING TO DO BRO-BRO???”

“Well, all right dudes, I’ll just keep hanging out up here at the front of the race, lemmie know when you catch up”

“DON’T WORRY SOOS I’M GONNA GET UP THERE AND THEN I’M GONNA CRUSH YOU!”

“LEFT, MABEL!”

“I AM GOING LEFT!”

“FURTHER LEFT- aaaand you missed it, great, you totally let him win.”

“WELL MAYBE IF SOMEONE WOULD STOP YELLING INSTRUCTIONS IN MY EAR!!!”

“Uh, guys? I think Dipper is making the screen go all fuzzy. Did we know he could do that?”

Dipper and Mabel stop their scuffling and look at the television, which has in fact gone all staticy and flickery over the top of Soos’s victory screen. Dipper takes a deep breath, and after a moment the irregularities smooth out.

“Well that’s weird,” says Mabel, and Dipper floats backwards a little bit.

“I’m… gonna take a break,” he says. “Go to the bathroom. Stand in front of the sink and admire the architecture or something.”

Mabel is concerned as she watches him leave.

…

In the hallway, there is a crucifix.

It is wooden, roughly carved, kind of gruesome when he looks at it closely.

Dipper vaguely remembers being aware of it when they were staying here while Gideon had taken over the Mystery Shack, but he’d noticed it in a ‘that’s cool looking but it has nothing to do with me’ sort of way.

Now, Dipper can’t seem to pull his eyes away.

There’s something about it, some force that seems to be emanating from it. He drifts closer, and finds that as he gets nearer, the air feels harder, and a couple feet away from the crucifix he literally can’t get any closer, like there’s some sort of wall in his way. 

It’s the first solid thing other than Mabel that he’s encountered since he- well.

He pushes harder, and his hand starts to sting. The force seems just as strong as it had been, but maybe if he comes at it like so, twisting from a different angle…

The force starts to give, but then Soos’s Abuelita walks right through him and Dipper flails backwards. She pauses, seeing that the crucifix has become slightly tilted, and straightens it with a respectful nod, then continues into the living room, offering Mabel and Soos a variety of snacks.

Dipper stares at the figure on the wall for a moment, then lets himself drift backwards through the wall and into the bathroom. He’ll think about this later, if ever.

———

“But I don’t want to wear this sweater!” Dipper protests, vanishing in the oversized sweater and tugging at the large number seven emblazoned on his chest, trying at the same time not to disturb the piles of birthday decorations scattered across the table.

“C’mon Dipper, I made it just for you,” Mark says, trying to coax his son into a better mood. The twins’ party starts in half an hour, and there’s still so much left to do.

“Yeah, and Mabel has one just like it, and is wearing it, and is gonna be hanging out with all her friends who are gonna make fun of me and say we look just alike.”

“Well, you really do look a lot-“ Dipper glares at him, and Mark hastily changes tactics, “-like you can do whatever you want with your appearance. Have you considered wearing a hat or something? Then they wouldn’t be able to say you look exactly the same all the time.”

Dipper scowls thoughtfully, and it is an expression so adorable that Mark’s fingers itch for his camera. He reminds himself that honest conversations are more important than Kodak moments, sits down so that he and his son are at eye-level, and claps him on one sweatered shoulder.

“It’s okay, Dipper, you don’t have to wear my sweater if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine,” Dipper mumbles. “I’ll wear it, I guess.”

Mark appreciates this. He may knit fast, but those sweaters were still a pretty significant time commitment, and he’s glad they’ll get a little bit of use, even grudgingly.

“Next time I’ll make you something nicer, okay?”

Dipper nods.

“Good. Now, do you wanna go help your mom find the candles? I’m sure you’d be a big help.”

Dipper nods again, and trots off to the kitchen, where Mabel is babbling excitedly about the cake, and Anna is starting to look a little flustered.

Mark snags an extra gift bag and heads back to his room. He’s pretty sure he has an extra baseball cap sitting around somewhere, and Mabel should be so distracted by the cake and streamers that she won’t notice that Dipper suddenly has an extra gift.

He hopes that Dipper will like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note re: the crucifix- In giving religious objects explicit supernatural power there’s always the danger of appearing to portray one religion as being more legit than another, and I’d like to avoid that. In this case, I’m going with the idea that religious iconography would be potent regardless of religion, but the religious items in Soos’s Abuelita’s house are the first that Dipper is likely to come across. The fact that Abuelita is an active believer is also important here, and I hope that came across.
> 
> Tbh, I’m a fan of the headcanon that the twins are Jewish, so hopefully that’ll show up at some point. It’s the reason behind Dipper’s ‘nothing to do with me’ comment, along with the fact that their family probably isn’t super religious.


	4. Chapter 4

There is fire.

There is blue fire that burns hot and bright, that casts everything into uncanny relief, as though Dipper’s eyes weren’t actually black and his teeth weren’t sharp and he weren’t screaming, screaming like Bill had when Dipper killed him.

Because Dipper had killed him, he’s sure of that now. He remembers the fight, and the pushing and the burning and-

Everything is burning.

Mabel is screaming.

Mabel is screaming, and something is very wrong.

Dipper struggles with the acid in his throat, tries to pull back into himself, but… it doesn’t come easily. He looks at his hands and sees claws, blue fire wreathing them, sees his hand flickering black with glimmers of yellow, as though a void cut out of the world rather than a part of it.

He raises his arm and tries to grab something to ground himself, something, anything, to connect him to the physical world.

He finds something, grabs it tighter, pulls himself around and sees that he’s grabbing Mabel’s shoulder, his claws digging in and his fire painting her face into stark contrast, bright and horrified and blue. She is- scared of him. She is scared of him and he’s hurting her, he’s hurting his sister, what is he doing, what is he-

The fire goes out.

He sinks to the ground, sinks to his knees, and Mabel is grabbing him, supporting him by the shoulders as he collapses in on himself.

He pries his clenched hand free of her shoulder, stares at the shaking appendage like it isn’t a part of him, and folds it to his chest, out of sight.

He looks up at Mabel, who is crying, she’s actually crying, and whispers, “ **Wh** **̴͟** **a̸t** **̵҉͝** **́** **̴** **is** **̶̕** **̨h** **͘͜** **a** **҉͝** **̧p̸̀p̸** **̕͡** **e** **̵** **ņ́i** **̴** **ǹg** **͟** **͟͝** **t** **͝҉** **̛o** **̵** **̴̢͜** **m** **͞͡** **e** **͡?”**

Mabel sniffles and hugs Dipper. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she says, and no, Dipper is the one who should be apologizing, this is all his fault, he scared her, he _hurt_ her, this is not okay, why is she hugging him, why is she-

“So, I’m thinking you aren’t a ghost, bro-bro.”

Dipper laughs a little bit hysterically, and tries to ignore the fact that it echoes strangely.

**“** **Y** **̶̡** **e** **̵** **a** **̕͠** **h,** **̴** **̸̨** **͘͜** **͏I** **͟** **͜** **t̛** **̕** **̸hin** **͝** **k** **͡** **͏** **̶** **̀ỳo** **̡͢** **u’** **̶͟** **r** **͘** **͏̨e ͏pr** **͜** **o͏b̀a** **͡** **bl** **̵̡͡** **y** **̴** **rig** **̴͘͡** **h** **̢̕** **̸t** **̢͜** **̵** **a** **̶͟** **̀b** **͘͢͞** **o** **҉͢** **u** **͡** **͏t** **͟** **̨̛t̛** **̶̕** **hat** **̶̡͟.”**

They can talk about this in a minute. Right now, Dipper just wants to hug his sister.

———

Mark was never really sure how he felt about his weird Uncle Stan.

On the one hand, he’d been really cool to visit when he was a kid, and he let them get away with stuff that their parent’s wouldn’t have dreamed of- but on the other hand, well, he was kind of weird and creepy? And maybe had something to do with his father’s disappearance?

Mark hadn’t spent much time with him in years, anyways, and figures that a lot of that weirdness had just been childhood misperception. Kids are always making a bigger deal of things than they actually are, after all, so he can’t really trust his memory.

He and Anna don’t think very hard before sending their kids to Gravity Falls for the summer.

They will come to regret this.

———

“ **Okay** ,” says Dipper, “ **So what else is strange**.”

Mabel eyes him critically. “Well your hair has always been a bit poofy, and I think your nose looks a little pointier than mine does-“

Dipper touches his nose, but then scowls. “ **Mabel! I mean, what else has changed? I’ve got these claws, right, and my voice is doing this t̵h̀in̡g̸̨. That can’t be all.** ”

“Dip-dip,” Mabel says, “Why don’t you just use a mirror?”

Dipper looks away. “ **I’m- no reason.** ”

Mabel leans closer and grins at him. “Oh, reallllyyy?”

“ **I’ll look weird** ,” he mumbles.

She gently punches him in the arm. “Don’t worry bro, you look awesome. Not as cool as you’d have looked if I’d been in charge, but pretty cool. I mean, your hat is gone and your shirt is a bit singed, but you have this ear-eye-teeth thing going on like you’re a vampire or something and I think you could totally play up the creepy vibe-“

Dipper pats the top of his head, and yes, his hat is gone. He sighs and turns to everyone else.

They’re all seated around the kitchen table, Mabel and Stan and Wendy and Soos. Dipper is floating more-or-less comfortably in the air in front of them, waiting for their feedback. Not that anyone except Mabel can actually see or hear him- mostly they’re watching Mabel in varying degrees of bemusement.

Mabel flicks at his now-pointed ear, and Dipper scowls at her. “ **Ma͢b̵ęl, shouldn’t you be explaining the situation to them?** ”

“Yeahhh, but your ears are just so fun to play with!” Mabel says, and Dipper continues to glare at her. “Ooh, have I mentioned that your eyes look really cool yet? Cuz they do.”

Dipper sighs.

“Well, I’m lost,” says Wendy, “What happened to Dipper’s eyes?”

“Oh, they’re all black and glowy and stuff.”

“What?”

“Yeah, like the middle parts are gold and the rest is black- they changed when the stuff with the blue fire happened, and they haven’t gone back.”

Stan frowns. “Mabel, you’re gonna have to start from the beginning, okay? What blue fire? How does this explain all that screaming last night?”

Mabel waves her hand around and starts to explain, something about Dipper being mopey and stressed and- Dipper looks away. He’d rather not think about this part.

He notices his shirt. Already beaten up during his fight with Bill, it’s now scorched beyond recognition. He tugs at it idly, giving a mental half-twist, and it smokes away and resolves into a formal suit-type thing.

Much better.

Mabel has trailed off, and is giving him a strange look.

He adjusts his bowtie and looks up at her, wondering what she’s concerned about.

“Uh,” she says, “Dipper?”

Dipper tilts his head, possibly a bit more than might be considered natural, and smiles. “ **Hey̴ ͝th̷e̕r̨e͞ S̛h͘o̡o̵t̕i͢ng S҉t͡aŕ. P͞ro̷bl͜em?** ” He feels his hair shift across his head. “ **Oh!͜ ̕S͠i̧l̀ly͏ me!̸ ̕I n͜e̡e̛d ͟a h̛at ̶of̀ c̛our͘se͘!** ” With a flourish, he pulls a hat out of thin air, and settles it in the air just above his head. “ **P̀eŕf̴ect̴** ,“ he says, and looks back at Mabel.

Mabel is pale and still.

“Mabel, what’s wrong?” Wendy asks.

Mabel doesn’t respond, and turns to Soos instead. “Soos, can you please get me a mirror? One of those large ones?”

“Sure thing,” Soos says, and ambles off to do just that. Dipper adjusts his waistcoat, and makes sure his cufflinks are in order. Triangles, yellow-gold and sharp. Just how they should be.

Soos comes back, hauling a full length mirror and props it next to the table. Mabel grabs Dipper by his jacket and spins him around.

Dipper freezes.

He doesn’t recognize the person in the mirror.

It looks like him, sorta, but they’re grinning widely, with sharp teeth. Or they were, at first. Now they just look horrified. Their eyes are black, except for glowing yellow centers, and they are wearing an elegant suit and floating tophat.

Dipper feels sick.

He touches his cheek, and the reflection moves with him.

He looks like Bill.

Bill, who Dipper had killed.

Dipper turns towards Mabel, blue fire flickering in the corners of his eyes.

“ **I ̕d͝id̨n͡’͟t͘- ͢I ̨di̢d̴n’t̀ ̷m҉ean͢- Ḿ̷a͢͞b̴́͝el!̶̧”**  

“Calm down Dipper,“ says Mabel, pulling him down to floor level. “It’s fine, you can wear whatever you want, It’s okay”

“ **I̧̡ ͏̡Ļ͟O̵̢Ó̵͟K̸̢ ̡̧Ĺ̨I̢K̷̀E̷͟ ̶͘͠H̸̸̢I̕M͝͡, ̵Ì ͏̕̕Ļ̛O̧̢O̕͢͞Ķ̀ ͡Ļ̴͘I̸͠͡K̨͟͝E͏ ͠B̛҉I̶͘͏L͠L҉҉”**

Mabel turns him so he faces her, and says in a tone that tolerates exactly none of Dipper’s freaking-out, “Bro-bro. Chill out and sit down.”

Dipper chills out, and sits down. Or, hovers in the air above the chair with his knees clutched to his chest, but close enough.

Mabel and Stan and Soos are staring at them. Mabel mouths “It’s fine”, at them, and turns to face Dipper with her fists planted on her hips.

“You are you. You are still my stupid brother Dipper, and you will always be my stupid brother Dipper. Got that?”

Dipper nods, and his eyes- his weirdly glowing eyes- are reflected at him wide and dark in the mirror behind Mabel. He shakes his head and wrenches his focus back away.

“You with me bro?” she says.

“ **Y̧͘e̕àh̴̷̕-** “ he says, choking on his strangely echoing voice, but swallows and repeats. “ **Ỳȩah̸́͞,̡ ́͜I͠͠’͡m̛ ̸̡wit̀h̴̡ y̛o̵u͠.** ”

“Okay,” says Mabel, “Good. Now, sit there and try not to freak out.” She turns to the people sitting around the table, all of whom are some uncomfortable mix of concerned and utterly confused. “Nothing to worry about, Dipper just pulled a costume change.”

Wendy raises an eyebrow. “Uh, what sort of costume change has a reaction like that? I think I actually saw some blue fire for a moment there.”

Mabel perks up. “Yeah, that was Dipper! He, uh, he’s kind of in a tailcoat. And a floating tophat. And there’s, like, triangles everywhere.” She makes a triangle with her fingers and looks out from it.

Soos cocks his head. “Wait a minute.” He says. “Thaaaaat sounds sort of like that triangle dude we fought that one time.“

Mabel nods firmly. “Exactly.”

“So,” says Wendy, “Are you saying…“

“ **I͟ ͞kil͟l̸̸͟e͠d̨̧ ̴͘h̢́͢i̢҉m͘͘**.” Dipper says, without quite meaning to.

Mabel freezes, and turn to the apparently empty chair where her brother is hovering.

“Dipper?” she asks.

“ **Ì ҉k͜͡i͘l̷̢͞ĺe̶d ̴̀h́i͏̸m̧͢** ,” Dipper says, more clearly now. “ **We̢ h́a̴d ͡hi҉m ̶t͡r̷appe̸d͢.͟ ͏He w̡a͘s lo͢si҉ņg̵,̛ and he p͞o͝s̛sęss̵e҉d me̛ t͝o͝ ̴tr̶y̧ to̶ g̨ȩt͢ a̛w͟a̛y͢.̶ He͢ was in m̨y͢ ́mind. So̸ I k͡illed͞ ͠h͝i̵m**.” Dipper looks up at Mabel, then looks away.

Mabel stares down at him, pale and small. Just a child, really. Just his sister, his twin sister, standing there in a too-bright sweater, and what will she think of him now?

There is silence, and Dipper tries to control his breathing, even though no one but Mabel can hear him. At least, he thinks, he’s only hyperventilating a little.

He looks everywhere but that mirror.

Wendy and Stan shift at the table, unsure what is happening. They stay silent in face of the undeniable tension in the room.  

Dipper laughs a little weakly. None of them even know what he’s said.  These fragile humans, oblivious to the most obvious things, not even hearing what’s right in front of their noses. What would they do if he screamed, what would they do if he raged and burned- would they even notice him at all?

Then, Mabel plants her feet firmly. “I’m glad,” she says, and Dipper looks up at her, trying not to hope.

 “I’m glad you killed him Dipper,” she says, looking him in the eyes.

At the table, Stan fumbles his coffee cup and Wendy and Soos go still. “He- what?” Stan asks, and Wendy shushes him.

“If you hadn’t killed him, you wouldn’t be here. None wouldn’t be here-,” Mabel says. “You saved the world, remember? You did what you had to do, Dipper, and it means I didn’t lose you. You might be a bit different now, you might be kinda pointy and glowy around the edges, but that’s fine, and you’re still here, Dip-dip, and that’s the important thing, okay?”

There are tears rolling down Dipper’s face, Mabel doesn’t bother to tell him that the tears golden and glowing. He nods, and Mabel envelopes him in a sweatered hug.

Soos comes over. “I’m not sure what just happened, but I think maybe we all need a group hug.” He gestures Wendy and Stan over, then hugs Mabel and Dipper. Or at least, he hugs around Mabel and the area where he thinks Dipper should be. Wendy trots over and puts an arm around Soos and an arm around Mabel, pulling them tighter.

Stan grumbles, but finally walks over and puts his arms around everyone, patting them sporadically. “Yeah, yeah, I love you all, whatever. You’re fine Dipper.”

Dipper can’t see the mirror anymore- it’s hidden behind a wall of his friends and family, and even though he can’t feel any arms around him except Mabel’s, he feels safe and warm nonetheless.

———

For about a day and a half, the world is madness. The supernatural is real and obvious, and it’s all anyone can talk about. The news stations run stories about it round the clock, and the internet is abuzz with theories and explanations, Religious leaders are putting out statements about the end of times, and at least seven people in Mark and Anna’s neighborhood sell all their material possessions and join a cult.

Mark calls Stan a dozen times, trying to figure out what has happened to his children- are they okay? Have they gotten kidnapped by Bigfoot? Were all those things he remembers from his childhood actually real?

Telephone coverage is spotty- something about dinosaurs trampling the phone lines and workers abandoning their posts in favor of getting as drunk as humanly possible- but he manages to get through a handful of times. Each time, Stan tells him that his kids are fine, but somehow, Mark is far from reassured.

The media cycle moves on. Soon, the supernatural is old news. Companies are incorporating real-life vampires into their advertising, everyone is talking about the effects of mermaid song on heart health, and buzzfeed starts running articles with ten easy tricks to deal with your new gnome infestation.  (To his regret, Mark actually attempts the one involving ketchup- It doesn’t work, they can’t quite get the smell out of the couch, and the gnomes just laugh at him.)

Humans are resilient in their flexibility, and life mostly continues as normal.

And then, slowly, rumor gets out that this ‘Transcendence’, as people are calling it, originated in the northwest United States. Specifically, in a little town called Gravity Falls.

…

Mark calls Anna. Anna answers on the third ring.

“Is something wrong?” she asks.

“No, not exactly. …You still have some time off, right?”

“Possibly? The department head got eaten by a giant venomous butterfly so no one really knows what’s happening, but I should be able to get away, I guess.”

“Great. How do you feel about taking a trip to Gravity Falls?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's probably about one more chapter of this fic- then we'll be moving on to the sequel, which is already coming along.
> 
> Enjoy! :)

Dipper keeps wearing the suit and tophat, mostly.

He’s tried changing it a couple of time, to the shorts and t-shirt he used to wear, but in the end, this is what he feels most comfortable in, even if he does sometimes finger the triangle cufflinks uneasily.

Mabel thinks this is hilarious.

Stan chuckles when she tells him about it, and makes pointed comments about Dipper’s improved fashion sense, which drives Dipper up the wall. Literally.

“Dipper, come down already!”

Dipper folds his arms and pouts. The effect is somewhat ruined by the way that Dipper is crouched upside down on the ceiling, hair floofing around his face and fancy tailcoat flipped almost inside out by gravity. The tophat, somehow, remains hovering above (below?) his head,undisturbed by his current position.

“Come on Dipper, you can’t stay up there all night- comehelp me sort my stuffed animals.”

“ **I’m not gonna help you sort your stuffed animals Mabel,leave me alone**.”

Mabel scowls, and stomps a foot. “Okay, you brought this on yourself, Mr. Grumpy face. Hold on.” She trots away, and comes back a moment later with a sheet of paper and a glittery red crayon. Dipper peers warily down at her, somewhat curious despite himself.

Mabel scrawls a star on the paper, stares at it critically,then adds a circle around it.

She pulls a scented candle out of the sleeve of her sweater,plops it next to the circle, and lights it. Then she pulls out a small pocketknife, and-

Dipper’s eyes widen and he lunges towards her with a loud " **W̨͏a̸̡i̴͡t̵!̕** ," but Mabel has already nicked one of her fingers and jammed the finger down on the circle.

“Dip-dop, get down here!”

The world twists around Dipper, and the candle flares with bright blue flames a foot tall. Suddenly he’s floating right above the circle, still lunging straight towards Mabel and- runs headfirst into some sort of invisible wall, like he’d found that one time at Abuelita’s.

Mabel flails backwards, and Dipper clutches his face.

“ **A͡ưu̧u̶̧g͝h̸! Mabel! What are you doing**!”

“It worked! I thought it would work and it did! I'm awesome!”

“ **What even w̛̕à̴s͞ that? Why does everything smell like cinnamon?** ”

“Yesss, I’m so good, look out world, here Mabel comes!”

Grunkle Sticks his head into the room. “Mabel? Is something wrong? And why does it smell like- Wait, is that Dipper?”

Dipper and Mabel turn to look at Stan. Stan looks back at Dipper, almost like he can- actually see him.

“Wow, kid,” Grunkle Stan says. “Mabel really wasn’t kidding about your fashion sense. Cool eyes though.”

Dipper stares at him in disbelief, then pushes hard at the air around himself with senses he didn’t even know he had. Yeah, there’s a flaw in the wall just here, and if he twists just so-

The paper bursts into flames, and Dipper rematerializes across the room next to Grunkle Stan, feeling vaguely relieved not to be trapped anymore.

“ **Grunkle Stan**!” he says, his heart pounding in his throat.

Mabel screams and starts pounding the fire out. Fortunately, it's small and short lived, the only casualties being the candle and the charred paper the circle had been drawn on.

Dipper floats down towards Grunkle Stan. “ **Can you still see me? Can you hear me?** ”

Grunkle Stan looks at a place three feet to Dipper’s left. “Dipper? Are you still there? Nice coat, I guess, though I’m not so sure about that tophat. You should really try a fez or something- much classier. I’d lend you mine, but it'd probably just end up on the floor, and that's a waste of a good fez."

Dipper takes a deep breath, then starts to chuckle. “ **This from the guy in an undershirt and boxer shorts? Seriously?** " Dipper shakes his head. " **Mabel, please tell Grunkle Stan I’m sassing him.** "

Mabel giggles and looks up from where she’s scraping the ashes of the paper into a pile. “Grunkle Stan, Dipper’s totally sassing you!”

“Oh yeah?” Grunkle Stan says. “It’d be a lot more effective if I could actually see him- which, apparently is a thing we can do now? Wanna explain that?”

“Yeah!" Mabel says. "I thought I’d try summoning Dipper like Gideon did with Bill that one time, and it totally worked! I’m kind of a genius,” she says, folding her arms and nodding emphatically.

Grunkle Stan's eyes widen, then he grins and messes up Mabel's hair affectionately. "Good job kid, I'm proud of you."

“ **Okay, try that again,** ” Dipper says, waving his arms as he floats around excitedly. “ **But instead of a star start with the circle and draw, uh, a pine-tree inside, maybe? Or like, a circle and a smaller star or something? And do it larger, on the floor, I wanna have room to move around! And d͢ef͝ínitely̵ don’t cut yourself again Mabel, y̶ik͢e̷s- use, like, a candy bar or something, that’d probably work. It seems like it'd work. And, uh, do you have any other candles? Non-scented ones! Because everything smells like cinnamon now and-** “

Mabel laughs and fixes her hair. “Hey, Grunkle Stan, you got any boring-smelling candles? Dipper’s being all prissy about it and I should probably summon him so he can finishing sassing you.”

“Ah, makes sense. Yeah, sure, I think we have some old novelty ones shaped like my head. One second, I’ll check.”

He leaves the room, while Dipper is still rambling excitedly about different ideas to test. Mabel smiles, trashes her pile of charred paper, and goes to get some chalk.

\------

Anna is not particularly happy with this turn of events.

First, the supernatural is real, and actively interfering with her professional life (RIP Dr. Stevens, and may the replacement department head live longer.) Then it comes out that her children are in a town in the thick of this madness, and she and her husband are not going to rest until they’ve gotten their kids out.

“Why did we let our kids go to Gravity Falls for the summer?”, she asks as they skim through the landscape on the weirdly busy/empty highways. She sees a Cinderella-style carriage drawn by six black horses with flaming eyes going at least 70 on an entrance ramp, and blinks, hard.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time?” Mark ventures, switching lanes to pass a bright pink beetle with “Gravity Falls or Bust” scrawled across the back window, and at least 20 different “Bigfoot is real” stickers plastering the rear of the car. As they pass, Anna can see four or five hippies of varying levels of intoxication laughing inside. Though, does that one guy have ram horns? And- furry goat legs where his pants should be?

Then they’re past, and the vivid Beetle is a shrinking image in the rearview mirror. Anna resolves to stop looking out the window so much. She looks at the dashboard instead. They’re pushing 100 miles an hour.

Anna raises an eyebrow, trying to ignore the cow-taurs mixed in with the normal cows in the fields outside. “Mark, sweetheart, normally I would be the _last_ person to worry about the speed limit-,” (This is an understatement. Of the two, she is definitely the more aggressive driver) “-but don’t you think we’re pushing it a little? We don’t want to get pulled over.”

Mark adjusts his sunshade and peers at the road in front of him. “It’s fine,” he says, swerving around an exact copy of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Van, “The police are still too busy cleaning up the messes in the towns to worry about pulling people over on the highways. Besides, all the traffic is heading away from Gravity Fall, not towards it.”

He’s right, actually. The traffic on the other side of the highway is bumper to bumper, moving only in brief waves as miles of cars inch slightly forward. Anna makes a face. She isn’t looking forward to the return trip, but at the same time… “Don’t you think the traffic heading towards gravity falls is a lot weirder?”

There is a pounding of hooves and an immense Cinderella carriage wreathed in ethereal flames passes them on the right.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mark replies, continuing to accelerate.

Anna rubs her face, and tries to remember to breathe.

They stop for gas a few times on their way up. Mark tries to find out from the station attendants what is happening in Gravity Falls, but none of them are willing to talk about it.

It’s not encouraging, on any level.

\------

In the end, Dipper and Mabel have no advance warning.

One minute they’re happily fighting over the remote- Mabel specifically summoned Dipper so they could hang out and watch TV together, even though they can’t decide on a show- when, suddenly, there’s a loud knocking at the back door.

Mabel lets go of Dipper's coat and flounces over to answer. Dipper follows, relishing in the weight and heft of his corporeal legs, and gets there just in time to see Mabel opening the door, already chattering before she sees who is outside.

“Sorry, valued potential moneybags, but we’re closed today for perfectly legitimate reasons, and also you definitely can't use our-”

Mabel freezes, staring up at the two people outside.

Dipper disappears from the physical plane with a loud WHUMPH of imploding air.

“-bathroom.”

 On the doorstep is their parents.

...

“Was that-," their mother starts to ask, and Mabel cuts her off, frantically gesturing behind her back for Dipper to go get Stan. Hopefully Dipper will be able to figure out what she means.

“Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Uh- what are you doing here? We thought you weren’t coming for like, another two weeks?”

Mark ignores this, and spins Mabel into a hug. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so glad you’re all right! We were watching on the news and your mother’s department head got eaten by a butterfly and-“

“I’m fine dad!” she says, hugging him, and trying to smile naturally. “Grunkle Stan totally told you that I’m fine, there’s nothing to worry about!” Mabel’s smile feels frozen on her face. They are not ready for this. None of them are remotely ready for this. There is literally no good explanation for what has happened to Dipper. They are all in so much trouble.

In the other room, the television plays some manic-sounding cartoon laughter. Mabel shoots a mental glare in that direction, and turns to check on her mother.

Anna steps into the house, looking around tentatively at all the weirdness thrown in corners and pinned to the wall. Mabel is reminded that her mother has never actually been here, and that there’s probably a good reason for that.

Anna just shakes her head sharply and focuses on Mabel. “Sweetie- was that Dipper just now? Are you playing dress-up? Where did he go? And- was something wrong with his eyes?”

Mabel laughs nervously, letting go of her dad and stepping back. “Oh, that? Heh, that was nothing, we were just, uh, messing around.”

“Oh!” exclaims her father, “Is that why your sweater has that winged star thing on it? It’s adorable, though- isn’t it a little late for Summerween?”

"Summerween?" Anna mouths at her husband, but Mark just shrugs like it's not important. Anna trails off into a frown.

“Haha, well,” Mabel says, closing the door behind her mother. “Never too early to start planning, right?”

A handful of gnomes stacked on top of each other are in the process of removing a tire from her parent’s car. Mabel narrows her eyes and makes a quick ‘I’m watching you’ gesture. The gnomes freeze, glancing at the leafblower sitting near the corner of the house, then quickly start reattaching the tire. Mabel turns back into the house with her too-cheerful grin plastered back on her face.

Her parents, in typical adult fashion, have wandered into the house like they own the place. She finds them in the kitchen, staring in mild horror at- _crap_.

Dipper’s summoning circle.

They’d left it out on the kitchen table earlier, complete with blood and burnt candles and piles of candy.

It looks pretty bad, and Mabel

Mark turns to Mabel. His face is serious, and he crouches down so his face is at her level. He puts a hand on her shoulder.

“Sweetheart, I know you like Halloween, but isn’t this a bit much?”

Mabel can hear her own heartbeat, and there is a rushing in her ears, but she tries her best to act like nothing is wrong. “It’s an art project?” she tries, but it sounds weird even to her own ears.

Anna is still staring at the array on the table.

Mark is just opening his mouth to say something when- Stan comes pounding down the stairs, followed by a grimacing and invisible floating Dipper.

Stan bounds over to Mark and Anna. He claps them both enthusiastically on the back, a wrinkled whirlwind in boxers, a suitjacket and a fez. Mark and Anna flinch.

“WHY HELLO THERE NEPHEW AND NEPHEW’S WIFE! I wasn’t expecting you for at least another week, but we’re always glad to have you here at the Mystery Shack! I hope you didn’t miss anything important to make it out here!”

No, apparently Mark’s memory hadn’t been exaggerating at all. If anything, it had downplayed the… full effect of interacting with Stan in-person.

Stan grins his too-wide con-man smile. Mark goes slightly pale.

“You’ll be so glad to hear that the shop is doing well!" Stan says. "We’re closed today, but business is better than ever!” He steers Mark and Anna through the door into the empty gift shop, shooting a significant glance over his shoulder at Mabel as he kicks the door behind them.

The moment their parents are gone, Mabel turns to Dipper and hisses “Holy shit, bro-bro, what’re we gonna do?”

Dipper shakes his head, eyes wide and face tense. “ **I̵ h̨a͝v̕e ̷nò ̧id͠ȩa̵. I mean, we’re gonna have to tell them, I guess?** ”

“You don’t have some crazy-elaborate plan to trick them into thinking you’re still around? Isn’t that your thing?”

Dipper gestures weakly. “ **I don’t really exist on the physi͟càl plane͡ right now, Mabel, they'd definitely notice I'm missing sooner or later. They’re gonna have to hear about this eventually. Might as well be now?** ”

Mabel tugs her hair and takes a deep breath.

“Okay,” she says, “Okay, I guess we just- tell them and hope they believe us?” She and Dipper exchange a look. “Can we get Grunkle Stan to do it maybe?”

There is a pause, and they hear their parents in the other room growing more and more uncomfortable as the seconds go by. Their mother keeps attempting to excuse herself, but Stan, bless him, knows exactly how to keep her there with her own social norms and politeness.

“ **I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, or a h҉or̶r͏ib͘l̨e one,** ” Dipper finally sats." **It's worth a try?** "

“Let’s get in there and find out.” Mabel says. “Before our parents go after Grunkle Stan with his own novelty bobble heads?”

“ **Yeah,** ” says Dipper. “ **Y҉ea̡h͝. You should probably grab a candy bar and some chalk, just in case.** ”

Mabel nods, and goes to do as suggested.

\------


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We did it! We climbed this whole mountain! 
> 
> Enjoy, and lemmie know what you think! :)

“I’ll show you the bathroom in a second-“ Grunkle Stan is saying, slinging his arm around Anna’s shoulder and gesturing dramatically, “But you really shouldn’t wander around the Mystery shack alone- who knows what MYSTERIES you might encounter! Why, we once had a wax statue of Abraham Lincoln commit a wax murder, right in this very room!”

“Thank you,” Anna says, deliberately stepping away from Stan’s arm,“but I’m sure I’ll be fine”.

Mabel slips silently into the room, and Anna waits for her to speak.

“Oh, just one more thing-“ Stan is saying. “Have you seen this new display? We just got it in last-”

“We’ve seen it three times!” Mark says, a little desperately. “Please, we just want to know where our children-“

“Hey,” Mabel says, and everyone in the room turns to face her. “We’re right here.”

Stan glances at them, his expression something between dread and resignation, but he goes silent.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so glad to see you,” their father says. “Have you seen Dipper?”

Mabel looks at a place next to her, then back at her parents.

She takes a deep breath, then says, “He’s here right next to me.”

\------

Anna isn’t quite sure how they got to this point.

Dipper isn’t quite sure how they got to this point.

Mark and Mabel definitely aren’t sure about this point.

Frankly, the only person in the room who is mostly pretty sure about how they got to this point is Grunkle Stan, and he’s probably the least able to intervene.

Stan knows a little bit about breaking the news about dead and missing family members. He knows it doesn’t usually go well. (There is a reason Mark hasn’t talked with his Uncle Stan since he was a child.)

And so, when Mabel looks at Stan pleadingly, he can't really help. What sort of words does someone use in a situation like this? Hell if he knows.

“What do you mean, Mabel?” Mark asks, and Mabel fidgets and looks around the room. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, I really do, but I don’t think this is the time for hide and seek-”

“He’s right here,” Mabel repeats. “There was that explosion in the woods and now he’s sort of like a ghost, but I promise-“

Anna covers her mouth, eyes wide.

“Mabel,” Mark says. “Please tell me you’re not saying what I think you’re saying.”

Mabel shakes her head and gestures wildly. “No, no, it’s not like that- Dipper’s fine! A bit different, but fine- he’s right here, seriously, let me-”

Anna is pale and her hands are shaking. Mark’s face is going all splotchy and red.

Stan, looking as uncomfortable as Mabel has ever seen him, slowly backs away.

“You.” Mark says, turning towards Stan.

Stan takes a step backwards. “I don’t know what you’re-“

Mark stalks closer, as threatening as a dentist can possibly be.

“What have you done with my son," he says, and It’s not a question. It's an accusation."

“I-“ Stan is clearly at a loss for words. “He’s just-“

Mark grabs Stan’s coat by the collar and-“GODDAMNIT OLD MAN, WHERE IS MY SON? YOU TOOK MY FATHER, AND THAT WAS ENOUGH- WHERE. IS. MY. SON?”

Anna grabs her husband’s arm, tries to pull him away, mostly ends up clinging to him as he screams in Stan's face.

Stan, for all his fighting expertise, just stands there and lets it happen.

Mark shakes him, a little, and Stan’s fez falls of his head, landing silently on the floor. Anna tugs harder, and Mark finally lets go, stepping back and putting an arm around his wife.

Stan looks away, avoiding eye-contact. There is a moment of silence, and then, so soflyt he can hardly be heard- “Sorry," Stan mutters.

Mark seems to swell with rage, moves like he’s going to grab Stan again and- Mabel growls, and stomps her foot in frustration, then grabs both of her parents by the arm and drags them back into the kitchen, pushing them each into a chair.

“Stop freaking out,” Mabel says, “And stop being mean to Stan! It’s fine.”

“Mabel,” says Anna, clasping her husband’s hand a little too tightly. “Is Dipper-?”

“No!” Mabel says, waving her arms in frustration, then channeling her emotion into just sweeping everything off the kitchen table and onto the floor, clearing a space large enough to draw a proper summoning circle. “You don’t understand! He’s not dead, he’s fine!”

Fine might be overstating it a little- Dipper is currently floating near the ceiling, arms wrapped around himself protectively, like if he makes himself small enough, none of this will be happening.

Mark rubs a hand across his face, scraping his stubble and- when had he last shaved? Not since the previous morning, at least. Anna squeezes his hand. “Okay,” he says, taking a deep breath. “Okay, we won’t say anything. Please- please explain what happened, Mabel.”

“Okay,” says Mabel. “Okay.” She glances up at Dipper, who tries to look encouraging but mostly just looks anxious. “So, you know this supernatural weirdness? This ‘transcendence’ thing?”

Anna nods, mutely, and Mark just stares at her.

“Yeah, okay.” Mabel looks around the room, then back at her parents. “It’s kinda me and Dipper’s fault.”

\------

Stan stands in the middle of his gift shop. He can hear Mabel in the other room, talking to her parents, trying her best to explain what has happened to Dipper.

He rubs his hands across his face, just like his brother used to, back before- well.

His hand comes away wet, and Stan reminds himself that these definitely aren’t tears, he definitely isn’t crying. It’s just- dust. In the air. Making his eyes water.

He reaches down and picks up his hat, dusting it off before perching it back on top of his head. He looks over at the kitchen door, but- “Pants.” He says. “This calls for pants.”

They can all hold on for a few more minutes while he digs up some clothes. It’ll be fine.

\------

Mark and Anna stare at their daughter and the detailed summoning circle she has just drawn on the kitchen table. Then- “Sweetie, no one actually knows how the transcendence happened. Some people are saying it started here, but those are just rumors, you can’t take them seriously-“

“No,” says Mabel, shaking her head. “It definitely happened here. We were right in the middle of it. There was this demon, and he was trying to make the end of the world happen-“

Mark is taking deep deliberate breaths, and Anna is barely breathing at all.

“-well, not exactly the end of the world- like he was trying to combine planes? Existential planes, not airplanes, though I guess he coulda done that too- he was really really weird and, uh, Dipper understands this better-“ her parent’s faces are glazing over like they don't understand, and Mabel flails a bit as she tries to get through to them. “The point is!” she says, emphatic, “The point is that Dipper and I managed to stop him! Mostly Dipper, though, and we didn’t stop it all the way so there’s apparently supernatural stuff everywhere now and that's really weird, but at least reality is still reality and the point is that, uh, Dipper isn’t really human anymore?”

Mabel’s parents just stare at her.

“I mean, I can still see and hear him, cuz-“ She does some subtle jazz hands “-twin stuff, probably. But no one else usually can. We thought he was a ghost, probably, but now we think he’s really more of a-“

“A dybbuck?” Anna offers, in slightly numb horror.

“No,” Mabel says, glancing up at her brother for encouragement, except that Dipper looks about as desperate as she does. “He’s not haunting or possessing anyone. More like, when he defeated Bill- the, uh, demon who was trying to end the world, he ended up… becoming a demon himself?”

Mabel can see in her parent’s faces that they don’t understand her, don’t want to understand her.

“Mabel,” Dipper says. “Maybe you should-“

“Yeah," she says. She grabs a candy bar, chucks it in the middle of the carefully drawn chalk circle on the kitchen table, grabs a lighter and lights the grotesquely half-melted candle versions of her Grunkle’s face placed around the circle.

Behind them, the actual Stan slips into the room and leans against the doorway, hands jammed in his coat pockets.

Mabel takes a breath, then intones, “I summon Dipdop the dweeby- get your butt over here bro.”

There is a pause, then a haze of smoke shimmering in the middle of the circle, and the candles are flaring up bright and blue. The world seems to darken and still around them, and then- the smoke coalesces into Dipper’s childlike form, floating above the kitchen table, suit and hat and all.

Dipper clears his throat, and the candles around him flicker as though in some invisible breeze.

“ **H̷̨͘i͞-** Hi mom. Hi dad. It's, uh, it's me.”

He does a loose Ta-Da gesture, and his parents just stare at him.

\------

There is a demon floating above the kitchen table.

It has pointed ears and horrible black and golden eyes, and an apprehensive smile that is too wide and shows far too many pointed teeth. It seems humanoid, at least, dressed in a too-black suit and a floating tophat, but something about the way it tilts its head, the way it fidgets and glances around the room reminds Mark of a falcon, or a raptor, and-

And it looks and sounds exactly like his son.

Mark has never seen anything more unnerving in his life.

“I know this must be really weird-,“ the demon is saying, “And believe me it’s weird for me too. But, uh, at least you don’t have to worry about me wearing nice clothes anymore? Not like it matters when I’m intangible 99% of the time but it’s the thought that counts, right?”

Mark just stares at the creature as it rambles, watches the too-sharp teeth in that mouth move without registering what is being said. Anna has his hand in a death grip, cool and clammy, and in the corner of his eye Mabel is talking to them, saying something about how, see, It’s Dipper, just the same as always, nothing to worry about, everything is fine-

But it’s not.Things aren't fine.

How could that thing be his son? His son is sweet and smart and shy. Not- Dark. Inhuman. Threatening.

The figure trails off, realizing that Mark and Anna aren’t responding. It floats down, landing lightly on the kitchen table, casts a nervous glance at Mabel, then stares at the wall and fidgets with it’s cufflinks.

Behind them, Mark hears Stan clear his throat.

“Uh, mom? Dad?” The creature has started talking again, with a voice that for all it's normality sounds strangely- flat? “Can you please say something? I was- I was expecting more of a reaction, I’ll be honest here. Running? Screaming? Exorcisms?”

The figure scrubs a hand through its hair in agitation, and- oh no.

There, on the forehead of the creature, is a birthmark, a perfect match to the one that Dipper always kept hidden, the one that no one else would know about. That- that’s his son, isn’t it?

It talks like his son, moves like his son, and it may have pointed ears and teeth and eyes that are… different, but… Mabel is right. That’s Dipper. That’s his son.

Mark stands up and takes a step towards the kitchen table, arm stretching behind him as he keeps Anna’s hand in his own. He peers closely at Dipper’s face.

Dipper stares back at him for a second, wide-eyed, then casts a desperate glance at his sister. She stares back at him, grimly, but says nothing.

Mabel and Stan shift uncomfortably.

Dipper stares at the wall, then takes a breath, looks at his parents. “Okay, someone needs to make a deal soon or I’m gonna have to dematerialize. This summon isn’t going to last much longer, and I can’t stay here by myself.”

Mabel reaches for a candy bar, but Dipper subtly shakes his head at her. He isn’t sure his parents want him here, and he isn’t sure that he wants to stay. It’s up to them.

Anna places a trembling hand over her mouth. Mark keeps staring at his son, tracing out all the things that are the same, all the things that are different, all the way things have gone wrong.

The candles are nearly out, flickering glimmers in unrecognizable puddles of wax melted all over the kitchen table. 

“Dipper?” Mark asks, and Dipper looks at him with a sudden hope.

“…Dad?”

Anna says nothing, just sits there, pale, and stares at the floor.

“It’s okay, Dipper,” Mark says. “It’s okay. We’re gonna fix you.”

Dipper looks at his sister, expression unreadable- then the candles gutter out, and he fades silently away.

Behind Mark, Anna starts to cry. He squeezes her hand in comfort.

\------

They leave that same day.

“Mom, wait, can we at least say goodbye to-“

“We’re leaving.” Anna says. “We’re leaving this town right now, and we’re never coming back. Go pack your things, Mabel.”

Subdued, Mabel goes upstairs, bringing down both her and Dipper’s stuff without comment.

She finds Stan at the window, looking out at her parents in their car. “Grunkle Stan, can you please look after Waddles?” she asks, trying not to cry.

Stan doesn’t even grumble, subdued and serious. “Of course, kid. Whatever you need.”

“And could you say goodbye to- everyone, for me? Soos and Wendy and Grenda and Candy and Lazy Susan and Soos’s Grandma and-“ Her parent’s car horn sounds loud and long, and Stan and Mabel jump.

“Of course.” Stan says. “Of course I will.”

Mabel nods, and then leans over and wraps Grunkle Stan in a tight hug. For once, he hugs her back.

“Me and Dipper had a great time this summer,” she says. “He wants me to tell you thank you. And thanks from me as well.”

Stan nods, hugs her tighter. “I’m sorry about how things turned out, kid,” he says. “Call me if you need anything. You and Dipper both.”

“Yeah.” Mabel says. “yeah, we will.” She lets go of him, grabs her and Dipper’s suitcases, and-“Oh! I nearly forgot!” she exclaims, letting go and dashing into the other room.

She comes back a moment later with something hidden behind her back.

“Close your eyes!” she says, and Stan raises an eyebrow at her, but does as he is told. He hears scraping like Mabel is tugging a chair towards him.

“Do I want to know?” he asks, but she just shooshes him and tells him to put his arms above his head. He does, and feels a sweater being pulled on a moment later.

“Okay,” Mabel says, “You can open them.”

Mabel is standing on a chair right in front of him, grinning widely. Stan looks down at his chest.

He is wearing a bright teal sweater, patterned with white polka dots, and emblazoned with the words ‘World’s Grumpiest Grunkle" across the front.

Stan starts to tear up. “Aw, get out of here kid,” he says, in a voice that is definitely not choked up, not at all, not in the slightest. “Your parents are waiting.”

Outside, the car honks again, and Mabel bounces off the chair and grabs her stuff. “Bye, Grunkle Stan!” she says, and dashes out the door.

Stan stands in the doorway and watches until the car drives away.

...

He won’t find the “My Grandniblings Love Me” knitted into the back of the sweater until he takes it off later that night.

\------

Mabel is glad she was able to give Stan his sweater, at least.

It helps make the way things go wrong with her parents just a little more okay.


End file.
